Migrating deer descend on innercity Auckland for a night out to the tune of The Prodigy’s ‘Breathe’.

This Tooheys Extra Dry TV ad stars The Stag, which has been the Tooheys brand symbol since 1869.

Representing Tooheys Extra Dry drinkers as they gather together and experience a night out, the stags in the television campaign unite and share the ultimate journey – the nocturnal migration.

“You head out towards the city, come together with your mates, go from a bar, to a club or a gig, gathering more people around you as you go. The similarities with herding animals are striking; we drink, we graze and we congregate at our urban watering holes.” Jon Bradshaw

The commercial was created by agency BMF Sydney, and directed by renowned director, Garth Davis. It was shot entirely in Auckland over five intensive days and nights in both the city and suburban areas. It features real deer, which for two months were trained by specialist trainers to ‘act’ out specific scenes for the commercial. At all times during the shoot, two-metre high fences were erected to protect the closed off city and suburban streets and to enable the deer space to roam freely and come together naturally as a herd. It was many of these scenes of the deer congregating and migrating that have been used in the final commercial. Post-production company ALT.VFX used motion capture technology on the deer, recruiting specialist talent from all over the world to ultimately create what is the TED nocturnal migration.

The TVC is supported by an outdoor, print and digital campaign featuring stags as well as street posters and giant paste-ups placed around the city on nocturnal migration routes. A ‘teaser’ print and online campaign kicked off a week before the TVC launch to build intrigue and interest. These teaser ads ran as a strip in the early general news section of metropolitan newspapers around the nation. Devoid of branding, the advertisement only made reference to a nocturnal migration and Sunday’s launch date.